Certificate & PGDIP in International Studies and Diplomacy
London, United Kingdom
Certificate
DURATION
1 year
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2027
TUITION FEES
GBP 9,535 *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* Home | International: £22,870
Key Summary
About: This one-year Certificate & PGDIP in International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS University of London introduces the politics of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. It's designed for students aiming for a Masters without a relevant background and for professionals or mature learners who want targeted study without a full undergraduate or Masters degree. Certificate students study foundational concepts and approaches for analyzing politics and international relations and pick disciplinary and regional modules to tailor their programme. This programme does not involve a dissertation.
Career Outcomes: Graduates can enter diplomacy, international organizations, NGOs, policy analysis, journalism, regional consultancy roles.
Course overview
This one-year course provides a substantive and comprehensive introduction to the politics of Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
It is designed for two types of students:
- Those keen to pursue a Masters degree but who do not have a background in the relevant subject area, and who seek academic foundations for more advanced studies.
- Professionals or mature students with an interest in furthering their knowledge of (international) politics, but who do not wish to embark on a full three-year undergraduate degree, or a Masters degree.
Students enrolled in the Certificate programme will study concepts and approaches that are foundational for analysing politics and international relations, and they are able to choose from a range of disciplinary and regional modules that enables them to design a programme tailored to their specific interests. This programme does not involve writing a dissertation.
Students have to take 120 undergraduate credits from those that are available to full-time undergraduate students, with whom they also attend lectures and tutorials. Course expectations are the same as for full time students (attendance, coursework, essays, annual examinations, etc). Passing the certificate at an upper second class standard is normally deemed to make a student eligible for the taught Master's degrees offered by the Department of Politics and International Studies at SOAS.
Students normally choose 60 introductory credits and 30 EACH from the Disciplinary and Regional units. The following is a list of available modules - please note that not every module may be available every year.
Important notice
The information on the website reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session. The modules are indicative options of the content students can expect and are/have been previously taught as part of these programmes.
However, this information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability is subject to change.
Introductory units
- Introduction to Political Analysis - 30 credits
- Introduction to Comparative Politics - 30 credits
- Introduction to International Relations - 30 credits
- Introduction to Political Economy - 30 credits
Regional units
- Government and Politics of the Middle East - 30 credits
- The State and Politics in Africa - 15 credits
- Government and Politics of China - 30 credits
- International Relations of East Asia - 15 credits
- International Relations of South Asia - 15 credits
- International Relations of the Middle East - 30 credits
- International Relations of Africa - 30 credits
Disciplinary units
- Political Parties and Elections - 15 credits
- Politics of Nationalism - 15 credits
- Performance and Politics - 15 credits
- Politics of Development - 15 credits
- War and the International - 15 credits
- Religion and World Politics - 15 credits
- International Institutions and World Politics - 15 credits